Casazza homers but Spokane rolls past Pirates

SPOKANE — Shortstop Chris Casazza homered for the Pirates Tuesday night but the Spokane RiverHawks kept Moses Lake winless with a 7-1 victory.

Moses Lake starting pitcher Zane Bator went three innings for the Pirates. Moses Lake fell to 0-12 to start the 2009 West Coast League season.

Despite the loss, Moses Lake head coach Steve Keller said his team is improving.

“We are progressing every day,” he said. “We have to keep applying that to the game.”

Bator kept the RiverHawks off of the scoreboard for the first two innings Tuesday night before Spokane managed to send three base runners across home plate in the third.

Spokane took a 7-0 lead with four more runs in the fourth.

After Spokane took a commanding lead four innings into the contest, Keller turned to his bullpen.

Keller brought in Brandon Rohde and Miles Scribner to finish the game for the Pirates  and Keller said his Pirates bullpen performed well Tuesday night.

“We pitched very well out of the bullpen,” he said.

With the Pirates trailing 7-0 in the top of the sixth, Casazza provided the only offensive spark for the Pirates when he managed to get the Pirates on the scoreboard with a home run to cut the Spokane lead to 7-1.

Keller said Casazza has provided a spark for Moses Lake this season.

“Casazza has been pretty solid for us,” he said. “He has done very well. He has a quality approach and a simple approach everyday.”

The Pirates return to the diamond tonight, looking for their first win of the season when they take on the RiverHawks at 7:05 p.m. in Spokane.